


Liability

by Mag7FandF_FanGirl (RannaFic)



Series: Assets and Liabilities [2]
Category: Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 13:30:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1471582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RannaFic/pseuds/Mag7FandF_FanGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes being a toy is a liability, creating trials and tribulations in his private life. Ezra is forced to take a case that involves one of Dom's friends. Ultimately it causes issues with the team itself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Blackmail

"You can't be serious!" Travis knew that not all the directors were enamored with Team 7 but this was not something he could ever have imagined. "Oh yes Orrin believe me, we are. This case will be pursued one way or another. The only question is will your precious team 7 do as they are told before or after we start destroying their careers?" Travis had been wary when Director Jones and Director Bryce had retired last year but he had never expected this. He bowed his head. In the end it was a criminal case and pursing criminals was their job. "Team 7 will take the case, and close it."

Chris could not believe his ears "Orrin we told you, Ezra knows ..." Travis interrupted him "Ezra is good enough that he can disguise either himself or one of you enough to be unrecognizable." Chris threw up his hands in disgust "This is all supposed to be about a few bottles of Cuban rum? Come on Orrin. What is really going on?" Travis sighed "I wish I knew, but Chris the directors are absolutely serious about this, they want this case concluded successfully and they are aware your team is the only chance to do it. They threatened half your team. They said they could pull Vin's exemption to the requirement that agents have a college degree, force Josiah into retirement, even move JD off the team since he did not have the required field experience to join an active team when he started. I was almost surprised that they did not threaten Ezra but I suppose they have finally paid enough attention to realize the dangers in that. In the end it is a criminal case, even an ATF case, so it's not completely illegitimate." Chris snorted "At least promise me you're going to find out where the pressure on the directors is coming from and why they are vulnerable to it." The expression on Travis' face would have frightened the directors "Oh you can be sure of that."

Ezra sat back without a word but JD looked puzzled "But ... isn't this the same Rico Santos that we met at Dom's barbecue something like two, maybe three months ago?" Chris winced "Yes. Any other questions?" JD opened his mouth again but Buck elbowed him hard and then clapped a hand over his mouth. "If there is nothing else you can all go back to your desks. Except you Ezra." Ezra had jumped to his feet as soon as Chris dismissed them but collapsed back into his chair without a word. The rest of the team filed out but Vin paused at the door and then closed it and sauntered over to sit next to Ezra. Chris opened his mouth but the words died in his throat when his eyes locked with Vin's. Finally he shrugged "Ez any idea just exactly who has the kind of power to force the ATF directors into this?" Ezra scowled "The US State department was very happy to confiscate the remaining heist money from everyone on Dom's crew as part of their pardon deal. However Rico had made some very lucrative investments, so when he returned his share he retained his investment money. There were many communications indicating that there were those who resented that fact but no explicit names were ever used." Vin spoke up suddenly and Chris was alarmed at the menace in his tone "Who'd they threaten?" Chris paused at that but Ezra answered this voice toneless "I would imagine you, perhaps Josiah? maybe even JD if they are that desperate. No one could have anything on Nathan, Buck has too many friends in the police community and only a suicidal idiot would threaten Chris Larabee." Chris' voice crackled with anger "I think they're going to find out that they did threaten me and mine and they won't like the penalties for that, but I can't do anything about it fast enough to protect all of you and shut down this case." He finally looked Ezra full in the eyes "Can you do this Ez? Will this cause problems between you and Dom? If you want me to shut this down I will try but .." Ezra's voice was ragged "Then who pays for it Chris? Do I sacrifice Vin for Mr Santos? Perhaps I should hold Dom's friends as highly as my team, if it was Brian or Roman I do not even know what I would do but for someone else. It is a flaw in myself but I find I cannot do it. If there is no case at all I will not go through with it. I will not sacrifice an innocent man not even for the team but ..." Vin interrupted there "None of us 'd want that anyway Ez but if he is guilty, surely we can testify at the sentencing hearing or something." Chris looked at Ezra again "Can we even do this? He's met all of us. Especially you." Ezra's smile was pained "Oh yes we can do this." Chris sighed. It had not escaped his notice that Ezra had not answered whether or not this would cause problems with Dom but he knew Ezra well enough that his refusal to address the question meant he was not willing to answer it and Chris knew he would not appreciate any pushing on the issue. He looked down unable to meet Ezra's eyes. "Make what arrangements you need."


	2. Caught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rico finds out there are penalties for breaking the law

Rico wanted to be clear "So this guy can guarantee the quality? The last couple guys we dealt with one was counterfeit entirely and the other was basically dregs". Juan's smile was broad. "He gave me a sample to bring" Rico was impressed and he was even more so once he tasted the rum. "So how much does he have?" Juan grinned again "A case and he says he can get more. The only catch is he wants to meet you. Says he needs to see who he's dealing with and make sure you're not a cop trying to set him up." Rico frowned. He did not usually meet with anyone but this rum was the best he had tasted in a long time. He shrugged "Set it up." When Juan had left Rico sat back and contemplated his options. He knew many of his friends thought he was crazy to do this, both to spend the kind of money he was forking over for the rum, and to engage in any crime that would bring him to the attention of the Feds. However for him, someone who had grown up with nothing, this was a symbol of everything he had aspired to and promised himself to get and to keep. He thought about bringing in a ringer to meet with this new smuggler but there were risks to that, not least the fact that right now he was only dealing with Juan and his brother Miguel. Everyone else he trusted enough to involve in such a job would either spend days lecturing him on the risks or refuse to participate at all or both. Since Juan and Miguel always went to meet the dealers neither of them was a possible "Mr Santos". He could not find a decent and trustworthy compatriot in less than a month or so and this dealer was certainly jumpy enough that he would bail given that kind of timeframe. Ah well he would meet the guy. What was the worst that could happen?

Juan walked in with the new potential supplier beside him. "Rico this is Raymond Boggs, the man who is supplying us with the fine rum." The man with him nodded almost regally "Call me Ray." Rico was surprised, he had expected a younger man since they had been at this at least a little while but this Ray was white haired and wrinkled. "Pleased to meet you. I hear you have supplies for us." To his surprise the man laughed "I have only just started on this endeavour Mr Santos but in my life I have learned caution. I am glad to see that you are the same way." He indicated the case Miguel was carrying in "I apologize for the meager quantity. At this point I have no money. However hopefully if you become a regular client that situation will change." Rico laughed himself "You are bold" Boggs bowed "You must agree that in my situation a little boldness is required." Rico relaxed "So why this? There are other things you could supply to make money" The supplier was calm "I have access to a warehouse which happened to have a stash available. I have no taste for the other types of contraband so it was fortuitous." Rico could just bet it was "So I believe Juan told me the final price would be $3000. That seems rather steep but as a gesture of goodwill I am going to pay that for the first delivery" The old man looked taken aback "So you will pay me $250 per bottle for a case of Cuban rum?" Rico nodded "In that case Mr Santos I am sorry to say you are under arrest." Rico blinked at him and then turned as his door caved in with a smash and agents barrelled into the room wearing jackets labelled ATF. Rico felt he had to commend the agents for their efficiency. Before he knew it he found himself sitting downstairs in jail calling his lawyer wondering how his life had gone to hell so fast.


	3. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra lets Dom know about the bust

As they pulled up to his house Ezra was surprised to see that even though it was early in the evening Dom was home. Usually whoever took him home would be waiting with him for a couple hours after work until Dom came back from his practice races. Ezra waved Josiah away and then walked in. He might as well get this over with. Dom was lounging in the living room just listening to music. Ezra wandered into the kitchen to make dinner, both to delay things, and to ensure Dom was in the best possible mood. He considered again not telling Dom until everything was over but discarded the notion. There was no way to get through the trial without Rico discovering his real identity given the quality of lawyer he was likely to have. The consequences of Rico being the one to let Dom know what had happened did not bear thinking about. After dinner Ezra came and sat with Dom on the couch and Dom drew him into a hug which he returned with a fervor which immediately had Dom pulling away and questioning "Sunny, what's wrong?" Ezra stood up and started pacing and finally told Dom everything that he had done in the case. Dom was ominously quiet for way too long and finally he pulled off his belt and his only words were "Come here!" Ezra flinched. He knew exactly what such a sharp command with Dom sitting on the couch portended. It meant Dom planned to pull him over his knee to punish him. He hated it when Dom did that and Dom knew it, he supposed that was the point. He had not tried make excuses before but now he wanted to explain why the team had gone forward with the case "I'm sorry we were basically blackmailed into it." Unfortunately he had hesitated too long. Dom's "Ezra Standish get your butt over here" was sharper and if anything more angry. Ezra felt a shiver of nerves at the expression on Dom's face. He could not help but ask "How many strokes?" Dom's response was ominous "Let's just see shall we. If you don't want to add disobedience on top of disloyalty get over here now!". Ezra went. 

Chris was concerned. Ezra had been distracted and antsy yesterday evening after closing the case and today he could hardly sit still, wandering from office to office and bothering the others until even JD was starting to snap at him. Nathan and Josiah had already locked their doors to keep him away. Suddenly Chris realized something, maybe the reason that Ezra seemed unable to sit down was because he couldn't. In retrospect it seemed obvious, though it made Chris furious. It was not outside the bounds of Dom's rights but Chris certainly thought it was deeply unfair given the circumstances. Chris barked out "Agent Standish get in here!" and then ushered Ezra into his office and closed the door behind him ignoring Vin's audible sigh of relief. Ezra clearly expected to be bawled out for his behavior but Chris had no heart for it and instead patted him awkwardly on the back and offered to allow him to lie out on the couch.

The conflict between his expectations and reality was too much for Ezra. To his dismay he found himself blinking back tears. He pulled away and Chris let him go and thankfully gave him a minute to collect himself before asking gently "How bad?" Ezra in answer stretched out on his side on Chris' couch and answered "Bad enough but I could handle that. It is the silent treatment that has me on edge. Since I told him he has essentially said nothing to me except orders to be quiet or go to bed or", with a wince, "to come for punishment." Ezra could see Chris swallow his anger before asking his next question "He hasn't completely lost his temper and really hurt..." Ezra cut off that line of thought "No! He's not capable of inflicting real violence on anyone he cares about." Chris' rejoinder was curt "But pain is OK" Ezra answered with a calm "Yes." Chris sighed "Well you'll be glad to know the trial is scheduled to start Monday." Ezra gaped at him "That is impossible Chris. Rico was only arraigned yesterday." Chris shrugged "This case should never have been pursued. What's one more impossibility." Suddenly his look was vicious "Gives us another way to research who's behind all this though doesn't it." Ezra smiled for the first time that day "Indeed Mr Larabee indeed it does."


	4. The trial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rico is surprised by just who has arrested him.

Rico had listened with his lawyer as the tape was played. Unfortunately it seemed an open and shut case. The only thing in his favor was that they did not have his voice on tape agreeing to the purchase. However today the undercover agent was supposed to testify. Rico's lawyer had forced the ATF to agree that testifying in this case would not put the agent at risk since Rico had no connections to organized criminals he would be present to testify. However at their insistence the court had been cleared. Rico watched as a well dressed young man walked forward and was impressed. He looked nothing like the man who had been there selling him the rum. Then unbelievably his world was turned topsy turvy with the prosecutor's next words "Prosecution calls Agent Ezra Standish-Toretto of the ATF"

Rico knew Toretto was not a common name and he remembered the wedding invitations so he examined the agent's face closely. It was possible. He knew from his time at Dom's house that Ray's friends called him Ezra. Rico could not swear to hair or eye color since Ray almost never looked the same way twice but the shape of the face, the nose, were right, though Dom's laughing, animated toy behaved nothing like this reserved self contained man. Suddenly all the problems that his lawyer had encountered arranging for this testimony to be anything other than a written statement or a blacked out video made perfect sense. Rico glanced around the court and saw Ezra's brother Vin was present. Looking uncomfortable and dressed in a guard's uniform to obscure his presence but he was there. Rico started paying attention again now that the swearing in was over. The prosecutor started his questions "On the day in question, as the tapes have shown, you offered the illegal smuggled rum to Mr Santos. What was his response?" Ezra's voice was calm "He nodded, indicating that he would pay my asking price. At that juncture I arrested him." Rico was unsurprised given the circumstances to hear the prosecutor stop his questions at that "No further questions your honor". Probably the real surprise was that anyone was having him testify at all. His status as a toy must be very closely held information otherwise either Dom would be the one here testifying or someone in the chain would have been applying extreme pressure to prevent an open trial such as this at all. The rules were not at all meant to cover such a situation.

Unfortunately before he could intervene and explain his lawyer leapt up and requested a cross examination "Agent Standish-Toretto your testimony seems rather brief. I can't help wondering just what you need to hide. Perhaps there is some entrapment you had engaged in that didn't make it onto the tape. Maybe you were so eager to make this collar that you were willing to cut corners?" To Rico's surprise Ezra stood up clearly angry. "For your information I was anything but eager to conclude this case. As it happens Mr Santos is a good friend of my husband's and I knew I would be in enough trouble when I explained it to him without needing to add to it by tricking him in any way whatsoever. I went to a great deal of trouble to ensure I did not even lie to Mr Santos at any point so I resent your insinuations greatly." Rico grabbed his lawyers arm and barked "Enough!" it relieved him immensely to find out that Dom had not at least initially known about this, though he was alarmed to find out that Ezra was in trouble. Everyone knew Dom had a temper and Rico liked Ezra. Ezra was the best thing ever to happen to Dom and he would not want him bearing the brunt of Dom's anger. Unfortunately the next attack came from the judge "Agent Toretto I do not appreciate your attempts to prejudice the jury against your testimony by bringing your private life into the witness box." Ezra looked at him in surprise and then, quite obviously, completely lost his temper "Are you suggesting that I should consider being married to my husband a shameful thing which would could cause the jury to doubt my abilities as an agent, because if that is the case your honor I am walking out of here right now. I spent most of last night indeed most of the last few days dealing with an extremely sincere attempt to make me extremely sorry for my role in this trumped up fiasco of a case. A case I might add which was against someone who I was starting to consider a possible friend and in recompense you tell me that I should be ashamed of my elevation in status to husband instead of simply.. " Suddenly his tirade was cut short as Vin had dashed forward and seized his arm and cut him off with a sharp "Not here Ez!" What the judge would have said to this could not be known because the prosecutor had moved forward and conferred quietly with the judge. The judge banged his gavel calling for a recess and Rico instructed his lawyer to call for a private meeting with the judge. He was ending this now.

"Well Mr Santos?" Rico took a deep breath he could not believe he was doing this, but Dom was too good a friend to allow him to mess things up like this. "I would like to plead guilty" Ezra's sharp "No!" surprised him. At his look of query Ezra responded "This whole case has been very questionable Mr Santos. My team works on cases against gun runners, not petty alcohol infractions and we communicated the fact that I knew you quite clearly. Given that we were nevertheless coerced into pursuing this case I would surmise that you would be likely to receive the maximum sentence of 10 years rather than a reasonable one. Probably whatever amount of pressure that would be needed to be applied on the honorable judge here would be available." The judge interrupted at that point "Agent Toretto I resent your implication that I would allow outside influences to affect my judgement in this case." Ezra's voice was cool "Your honor you have just heard me confess that I engaged in activity which my owner considered a betrayal of him. I assure you no toy far less one of Fredrick's would do that except in the most extreme of circumstances. I was not prepared to sacrifice the careers of my colleagues. I assumed correctly that Mr Santos would engage a suitably compensated law professional as he has done and counted on that resulting in a not guilty verdict. If he pleads guilty however the only pressure point needed is you." The judge scowled and then to Rico's surprise laughed. "Well Agent Toretto I believe the persons behind this have run into a bit of bad luck. I am appointed for life and have no family whose careers can be threatened and my peers are all fellow judges. Furthermore they erred greatly when they involved you. They have taken action which has caused emotional harm to a toy. The forces I can bring to bear against them to root them out and destroy them based on that fact are incalculable." Ezra smiled "I did not think of it in that light. I do believe that will be a fruitful avenue for pursuing this case." The judge turned to Rico "Mr Santos I will accept your plea and let it be known that I plan a suspended sentence of 3 months. Then we will see what that brings out of the woodwork." The judge turned to Ezra "I presume we will be able to find resources to investigate such leads." Ezra grinned viciously "Oh that will be immensely easy. "


	5. Confronting Dom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dom finds his family and friends are displeased with his behavior

Rico waited until they left the judge's office and Vin had joined them before talking to Ezra. "Ray I want to speak to Dom. He needs to let this go." Ezra sighed "He will not appreciate you addressing the issue. You have no standing to tell him how to interact with his toy, particularly since I was explicitly forbidden from testifying in your case." Rico was alarmed at the suppressed anger and bitterness in Ezra's voice. "Fine then we will go to someone who does have such standing." At Ezra's look of query he addressed Vin "We are going to Mia's. I will call Dom and tell him to meet me at her place so I can give her and Brian the good news that this is all being sorted out." At Ezra's look of astonishment he smiled "Ray many of us have long felt that Dom should really only punish you for actions which threaten your own health or wellbeing. In fact we have discussed making such modifications to the contract with him. He has been holding out for the right to punish you for what he terms 'excessively disrespectful actions' but we have been having trouble pinning him down on exactly what that means. This is a perfect example of what we have been arguing. What he is doing may be legitimate given your status but it is wrong. It is damaging your relationship and since we've never seen him this happy none of his friends are interested in letting his hard headed stubbornness ruin his relationship." Ezra looked skeptical "I would not think you would be interested in doing anything on my behalf after this little fiasco. Not to mention the fact that I doubt you were happy to find out I am a Fed." Rico laughed "Dom already has a Fed in his family so not an issue. As for this. Do you know how great it feels to be able to hold something over Dom's head?" Ezra laughed aloud and then was more serious. "My job has intersected with my status before but this time I would have had to sacrifice one set of family for another. I really did think that there was little danger of you serving time. I do apologize for my actions though, if I had trusted you perhaps we could have worked something out." Rico shrugged it off "I was stupid. I knew better than to be engaging in illegal activity with the forces arrayed against me coveting what I had. I would have thought myself a bad risk to confide in too. I am sorry that it caused you to be punished though." Ezra shrugged "It was disrespectful to Dominic to pursue the case, I knew that. I went in with my eyes open. I knew if I told Dom what was happening prior to the conclusion of the case he would have immediately informed you, blowing the operation. Since those behind this would know they could not touch me they would have pursued retaliation against my team and that I could not allow."

Vin was driving them all to Mia's and Rico was sitting in the back regaling Ezra with amusing stories about his experiences with Dom. Abruptly he turned serious and turned to Ezra with an expression Ezra could not pin down "Do you trust me?" Ezra felt he owed the man at least that much now. "I would venture to say that I do." Rico held out his hand "Lend me your phone." Ezra shrugged and handed it over. Rico dialed quickly and Ezra' eyebrows rose as he heard Rico's conversation "Actually it's me .. now is that any way to speak to your friend ... calm down nothing has happened ... yet" finally Rico tossed the phone back to him "Say hi." Ezra was confused and uneasy but he complied "Hello" then he heard Dom's voice on the other end of the line "Are you OK? Has he hurt you?" Ezra could not believe it. How could Dom imagine Rico had hurt him after all his protestations about what a good guy he was "Of course I am fine Dominic you said yourself that Rico is a gentleman. He has not engaged in anything untoward." Rico suddenly snatched the phone back said "Meet us at Mia's" and hung up. Ezra glared at Rico "And what pray tell was that about Mr Santos?" Rico smirked "When you were kidnapped Dom found out when he picked up a call he thought was from you and it was that bastard Saul. Since he's misbehaving I figured I'd shock him into remembering what's really important." Ezra reached for the phone he was annoyed "Do you have any idea how angry he will be with you? I had better clear this up now." To Ezra's annoyance Vin suddenly reached out and grabbed the phone "Dom can wait til he sees you. Besides which he won't really believe anything til he sees you in person anyway. Rico could have kidnapped you but not have hurt you yet." Vin's voice was suddenly dark with anger "It'll do him good to be scared. He deserves it." Ezra subsided. Getting the phone back from Vin would be difficult at the best of times it was certainly not possible while driving. However he was going to make sure that Dom wasn't allowed near Rico until this was cleared up.

Dom felt conflicted. Part of him was sure that Rico would never hurt Ezra but he could not completely dismiss the fear that picking up a call from Ezra and finding someone else on the line had sparked. Maybe Rico had some guys grab Ezra, but how would he ensure anyone willing to go so far as to kidnap a toy would not be so dangerous as to hurt him. He was not happy either with the fact that they had been cut off so abruptly, but surely meeting at Mia's was a good sign. Finally he turned into the driveway for Mia's house and relaxed when he saw Vin standing next to Ezra and Rico. He knew no one would ever have a chance to hurt Ezra with Vin there. His temper ignited and he stepped towards Rico but Ezra stepped forward and intercepted him. He growled out "Move" but Ezra simply shook his head. Before he could say anything Rico barked out "Jesus Ray do you have the sense God gave a goldfish! The point is to get him to STOP being mad with you dammit!" Ezra looked up at him and mouthed "goldfish?" and Dom almost fell down laughing. Rico did have some unique turns of phrase. Dom watched as Ezra took in the change in his mood and allowed Rico to push past him and pull Dom into a hug. "Haven't seen you in too long bro' how've you been."

Dom lounged against Rico's car watching with amusement as Brian and Vin tried to convince Ezra to join their tag football game. He was relieved that Mia was not there yet. Brian had pulled him aside and quietly given him a lecture but he knew Mia would be angier and louder and he was not looking forward to it. Rico turned to him finally looking serious. "Are you going to punish Ezra for that little display of disobedience?" Dom looked uncomfortable "How can I shrug off that level of disrespect from my toy as if it means nothing." He glared at Rico "We could have avoided all this if you had just positioned yourself so he couldn't get between us." Rico shrugged "That was my fault. Since he had me arrested and then testified against me it didn't cross my mind that he would try and defend me from you. I should have known better since he apologized and explained."

Rico's voice grew calm suddenly, something Dom knew was a danger sign "Speaking of ... did you even listen to his explanation Dom, because knowing you I think you just lost your temper, and your judgement in such cases is more than just a little bit suspect." Dom found himself on the defensive "I was furious when I found out that his team had gone after you. I admit I did not really listen to what he had to say and demanded that he not testify against you." Rico's voice was hard "I can't interfere Dom but will you at least tell me you put a limit on it rather than just punishing him as long as you remained angry." Dom looked down in shame "I ... dammit! I really screwed up huh." Rico sighed "Since you probably don't know. They threatened to attack the members of his team by putting their jobs at risk. He did testify. I would imagine he feared retaliation if he did not, but he expected any lawyer I had would easily trash a prosecutor. My lawyer could have handled it easily if I had not been forced to plead guilty in order to protect him from you!"

Dom looked up startled "Wait, you can't do that. The judge could pick the maximum which is always ridiculous." Rico waived away his concern. "The judge has given me a three month suspended sentence. He's very interested in finding evidence against whoever is putting pressure on federal agencies. Anyway it's pretty clear to me you have been going way overboard." Dom knew Rico would not like what he had to confess. "I've only punished him over multiple days for an action once before and then I told him how many days and made sure I took my previous actions into account. This time I just ... it has been open ended and I just gave him around 20 sometimes more every day. I did not even tell him how many it would be. I should not have been punishing him like that. You are right." Rico turned to him clearly furious "After that you don't have the right to punish him for disobedience. I know enough of him to bet he's scared you're about to turn on him any minute. Call Ezra over here and see what happens." Dom looked at him and then turned and barked a command. "Ezra!" He watched Ezra turn and walk over briskly and felt his heart sink. He could see fear and resignation in Ezra's bearing. Worst of all by the time Ezra was standing in front of them he was completely expressionless, clearly expecting the worst. Dom couldn't bear it and pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm sorry. Can we just ... I should never have punished you like that. Particularly not when you were being forced into it and it was for your job. Can't we just pretend I it was for anticipated disobedience and start with a clean slate." Ezra looked at him seriously "I am amenable to your suggestion." Abruptly Ezra grinned. "However I would be willing to bet that Mia is still going to shout at you for hours and you know I only bet on sure things."

Mia pulled into her driveway to find her front lawn crowded with people. She parked and helped Jack out of his seat and watched amused as he made a beeline for Ezra yelling "Unca Rez" at the top of his voice. Visits from Dom and Ezra were anything but uncommon but she was surprised to see Vin and Rico there. She had heard that Rico had been arrested over his stupid insistence on buying Cuban rum and she was prepared to give him a piece of her mind for that idiocy. She walked straight up to him and demanded "So what's going on?" Rico did not pretend not to know what she was talking about but smiled and responded "Three months suspended sentence". Mia sighed in relief "Wow that was fast, damn Feds why can't they just leave us alone." Then she realized how that sounded and turned back to reassure Brian and her eye caught Ezra. He was sitting frozen and expressionless and Mia abruptly realized that perhaps the Feds involved were the ATF. After all though she did not often think of it the A did stand for alcohol. Mia dropped a hand on Ezra's arm and smiled at him "Relax Ray it's not as though you arrested him personally". At her words everyone fell silent and Mia could feel the Ezra's muscles tense under her hand though his expression did not change. She had to step back and re-evaluate. The reactions made it clear that Ezra had in fact arrested Rico which she could not imagine unless, her mind raced, he would have to be blackmailed into such action. The thought infuriated her but she was also annoyed that Ezra was clearly anticipating the worst. She did not bother to temper her response. "So you did arrest him and you expect what Ray? That we'll declare you banished from the family? I don't even need any details to know only extraordinary circumstances would make you do such a thing. I thought you'd learned better than that by now. We don't give up on family, not ever." Ezra looked poleaxed and Mia grinned to herself "Though really I don't know when people are going to learn that we're just people trying our best to get by. No different than any ordinary American family!" Ezra shared a look with Brian and then collapsed into a fit of giggling to Mia's delight. When he finally got his breath back Brian interjected "ordinary family who just happens to engage in street racing and the odd multimillion dollar heist" which had Ezra gasping for breath again. Mia mock scowled at him and then wrapped her arms around him telling him quietly "You're ours Ezra we're never leaving you, not for anything." Then she pushed him away dramatically and gave him a playful slap on the butt. Ezra's pained gasp at that little gesture told her in an instant that Dom had not had exactly the same reaction to Ezra's news that she had. Her temper flared and she punched Dom in the chest hard enough to make him gasp. She couldn't even bear to talk to him she was so angry so she grabbed tight hold of her temper and marched into the house without a word.

Mia heard a knock on her door and without turning stated "Just stay away from me. I am too angry to talk to you right now." Then she turned but instead of Dom as she expected saw Ezra looking quizzically at her "Oh I thought it was Dom. You can come in as long as you're not going to try and talk me out of being angry." Ezra smiled and then declared "Well it is a good thing I did not bet any money. I knew you would be annoyed but I seriously underestimated how much." Mia almost smiled "So come to tell me tall tales of how it was not a severe spanking?" Ezra winced "I do wish you would cease calling it that. It makes me feel like a child. Not that mother ever spanked me but still there is the principle of the thing." Mia scowled "Would you prefer I asked you how badly Dom beat you?" Ezra raised his hands in defense "Pax Mia, fine spanking it is. You know Dominic. It is not as if I am at all injured or ever was in danger of such." Mia was not mollified "Which means what? That this has been going on for what five days? six? Lets not even talk about how he would be behaving towards you during that time either!" Ezra was clearly uncomfortable "I admit that it seems perhaps an excessive amount of time and he was not the most approachable but in fairness I did neglect to inform him of actions that were extremely detrimental to a very good friend." Mia was unimpressed "Rico made the idiotic choice to break the law for something so trivial and in any case can defend himself. I'm willing to bet he did not welcome Dom's defense." "Not really" Ezra allowed "but I did expect to pay for my actions. In truth I was more upset with the ongoing silent treatment." Mia walked over and took both Ezra's hands in hers "Anything like this ever happens again you come to me on the first day. Promise?" Ezra's response was not quite what Mia hoped "I will promise at least that if he engages in this type of multi day severe spanking again I will inform you" She sighed it was better than nothing.


	6. Lingering Resentments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dom visits the office. It goes badly

Ezra could not decide how he felt about Dom spending the day with him. It was a positive sign that he was spending time with him at work given how fraught with tension just discussions about his job had been only days ago, but on the other hand Ezra still had unresolved feelings about everything that had happened and was worried about the intersection between that and work. However things went well all morning and Ezra finally began to relax. In the afternoon Travis called down with a new case and the team moved into a conference room to map out the plan. Chris was laying out his preferred strategy when Dom interjected "I think you should consider a different approach." Ezra snapped back immediately, and without thought, "I hardly think you have the background or intellectual wherewithal to make such a statement." At that he stopped appalled with his own words but the damage was done. His team looked at him shocked but Dom's expression was the worst. Initially he looked so pained Ezra felt relieved when his expression switched to rage. Dom turned and grabbed him and hauled him over the table. Ezra flushed when Dom pulled down his pants and flinched when he pulled his belt but didn't move from where Dom had left him. Ezra was unsurprised to find himself sobbing by only 10 strokes. He always felt like everything hurt more when he was punished publicly and having it happen in front of his whole team made it worse. Nor was he completely over the effects of his past punishments. However to his surprise Dom stopped at 15 and pulled him into a hug. Ezra curled into his arms and watched quietly as Dom shooed his team out.

They stayed quiet for a while and finally Dom addressed the issue. "Do you really think ..." Ezra cut him off immediately "No! No Dominic I am completely aware of your intelligence I was just ... residually angry I suppose. Trying to get back at you in some way for attempting to interfere in my job, for ... I wanted to cause you pain. I cannot offer abject enough apologizes." Dom gave him a gentle kiss. "To say I went overboard is to severely understate the case. I refused to give you any kind of boundaries on the duration or amount of punishment which violated one of the unwritten rules of our relationship. Worst of all I deliberately made you unsure by giving you the silent treatment on top of that. That was almost unforgivable. It's not a wonder you were angry. If I was a better person I would just have let it go but I'm just .." Ezra shushed him "No I would not, could not expect you to let such excessive disrespect go, we don't work that way. I do not even want us to work that way. I know from Rico's comments that your friends want changes to our contract but I am happy with the way it is. For my reaction I can only hypothesize that I pushed back so strongly because you were so angry. That I needed to prove to myself that you would not be like Maude was and turn around and wash your hands of me until I was useful again." Dom pulled him back into his arms "Never!"

Dom left soon afterwards by mutual agreement and although Ezra could not say he was comfortable he felt better than he had in weeks. He finally felt as though things with Dom were completely resolved and that made him cheerful. He wandered into the break room and found it deserted except for JD. "Mr Dunne" JD scowled "How could Dom do that! And then you cried like a baby on top of it. I never watched before but I thought you were tough, that you would laugh off anything. Only you didn't. How can Dom do that to you, knowing that it would cost you the respect of your team! How could you let him!" Ezra felt completely blindsided "I was unaware that such an eventuality caused my team to think less of me. No one has mentioned such a feeling before." JD looked at him visibly astonished. "How could they not? I suppose they didn't want Dom to get mad and refuse to let you work anymore. I think it's wrong though. I didn't realize being a toy was so awful. Do you want me to talk to Dom for you. Maybe he doesn't realize the effect it has on your position in the team. How the rest of us feel about you. I mean he does seem like a good guy. So if it is explained to him..." Ezra cut off the flood of words with a flick of his hand. "No need Mr Dunne. I will have a word with Dominic and ensure that such an event never happens again."


	7. In Search of Respect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra tries to get back the respect of his team

Chris' voice rang through the offices "Agent Standish unless you turn around right now I am putting you on suspension! You are to ... Goddammit!" The other members of team 7 turned to each other in surprise. Then they heard Chris slam down the phone with a curse. Vin stood up and made his way into Chris' office followed closely by the rest of the team "What's up?" Chris looked drawn and tired "That idiot has gone to the meet with Lombardi on his own. He maintains that it has to be done immediately or not at all. Sneaky bastard managed to hang up on me before I was able to order him back here, next time I'm saying that first." Vin's voice was quiet "Did he at least say where? I can get anywhere in the city on JD's bike in 15 minutes." Chris looked relieved and handed a piece of paper to Vin "Go! The rest of us will follow as soon as we can." Vin left immediately, snagging the keys JD tossed towards him and moving at a run. Chris turned to the rest of the team. "Ok men lets see how fast we can get out of here."

Ezra walked out of the meeting feeling on top of the world. He had the big boss Marchant on tape asking for a couple more crates of AK47s and even Lombardi and his other top lieutenants discussing in detail how they intended to use them on their rivals. This was guaranteed to get back his team's respect. He made sure to wind in and out of the buildings around the warehouse to shake any tails and then started on a circuitous route back to the office. It never hurt to be cautious. However as soon as he got on the freeway he heard a motorcycle revving behind him and looked into his rearview mirror to see Vin on JD's bike. Well that was unexpected. He had not thought it to be possible for his team to be anywhere around. Vin signalled as they were approaching the next exit and Ezra sighed and complied. He was sure that once they saw what he had they would forget to be angry that he had violated protocol. He carefully ignored the little voice pointing out that he had done way more than that. He exited and Vin led him to a parking lot where he could see Chris' truck was parked.

Ezra pulled alongside and got out of the car prepared to defend his actions but Chris' sharp "Shutup Standish" was enough warning to wait. Finally Chris turned to him clearly making a heroic effort to be calm and to Ezra's stunned surprise dragged him into a tight hug. When Chris finally released him his voice was shaky "You took years off my life there Ezra. I can't remember the last time I was so afraid." Ezra was not sure what to say. Anger, demands to justify his actions he had been prepared for, but this naked fear was not in his calculations. To his own surprise he found himself telling Chris the complete truth. "I needed to regain the team's respect, your respect. I did not intend to cause you any trauma. I apologize for that." Chris was visibly stunned but Vin interjected "I thought something was really wrong for you to do something just plain idiotic. Now mind telling us just what exactly made you think you had lost our respect. I know for sure you've always had mine and nothing has changed that. Nothing could Ez. You shoulda known that by now and I'm kinda hurt you didn't but I do understand it can be hard sometimes to understand your value to others." Ezra looked into Vin's eyes and flinched at the pain he saw there. "I am sorry. I did think that maybe there was some mistake but he seemed so sure that seeing me punished ..." he cut himself off suddenly. If Chris was this shaken he would certainly be angry with JD and Ezra felt it was unfair to blame someone for their emotions. Vin froze however and then said with complete authority "JD".

After they had picked up the rest of the team Ezra had spent the entire trip attempting to convince Chris not to tell Dom about any of this. Chris had initially argued with him but eventually simply told Ezra that he had given his word that he would never hide such a thing from Dom and he intended to keep it. With that Ezra changed his tactics to trying to convince Chris to allow him to talk to Dom first but he had no more success with that than with the first. In fact eventually Chris pulled over, put him into the van with JD, Buck, Nathan and Josiah and drove off ahead with Vin, asking Buck to give them a 10 minute head start. JD had pulled Ezra aside and asked about what had happened. To Ezra's surprise he did not seem at all happy with Ezra's explaination. When Ezra finally pulled into the driveway he was immensely relieved to see Chris and Vin standing by Dom and looking no worse for wear but he had never been more nervous to see Dom because he could not read his expression at all, and that was never something that he had encountered. Dom was a passionate and expressive guy. To know that he had to be furious and yet be unable to detect any emotion from him had Ezra feeling an immense amount of trepidation.


	8. A Final Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team talks it through.

JD watched Ezra get out of the car and walk over to Dom. Finding out that Ezra had done something so insanely dangerous as going to a meet without backup to prove something to him, because of what he had said about the team not respecting Ezra, had been the single worst moment of his life. JD had not been able to look anyone in the team in the face since. However now seeing Ezra face Dom JD felt he had to intervene, to somehow take responsibility for his actions. He could not yet hear what Dom was saying but looking at Ezra's body language and taking into account everything he knew of Ezra said that the undercover agent was terrified and he was actually yelling at Dom, something he had never seen Ezra do with anyone. JD climbed out of the van and walked towards Ezra and Dom. "You cannot take a course of action like this against my wishes! It is unconscionable Dom!" JD got close enough to hear Dom's words and a shiver ran down his spine "All I am doing for now is changing how I interact with you Ezra. You have to admit that lately being a toy has been nothing but a liability for you. After what happened with Rico I would have to say that maybe my friends had good reasons to think our contract should change. I'm just proposing a bigger change. How is it a bad thing to be treated as a responsible adult who can make your own decisions?" Ezra practically spat the words at him "I know you Dom. You throw yourself heart and soul into everything. You will try and do it all. We have discussed all the logistical issues the council would have with verifying that no blackmail was involved. I know as well as you the problems are not insurmountable. You pretend it will have no negative changes between us when it will change the fundamental fact that I will not belong to you anymore. Even when you owned me you have walked away. How then can you truly promise me that if there is no contract between us I will not lose you." JD could not believe it. Dom was seeking to end his contract with Ezra again? He could still remember how lost Ezra had been when Dom had left him before. He had been angry with Dom for causing Ezra pain when he had punished him at the office but he had been afraid to turn that anger on Dom. He had worked out that the need to hurt someone was what had been twisted into the need to hurt Ezra, he had never really lost respect for him. Now the anger towards Dom for daring to try this again was too much to suppress. With an oath he barreled into Dom, to his surprise knocking him to the ground. Dom brought up his arms to protect his face but otherwise did not react or fight back which just made JD angrier and he continued punching at Dom until Buck finally pulled him off.

Eventually Buck got JD to calm down and agree to sit down and talk to the team and Dom together. They all settled down in the living room and Chris took control of the discussion. "JD it might be a good idea to discuss what's going on with you and Ezra." He paused clearly uncomfortable "While you of course have a right to talk to Ezra if an issue is bothering you, suggesting that other members of the team thought less of him was ... really you should let other team members speak for themselves. I think ..." Nathan suddenly interrupted addressing Ezra, clearly extremely livid. "How you could think I suddenly decided I was in any way uncomfortable with you and Dom is maddening, not to mention idiotic! Since I was monitoring you guys from the start it doesn't even make sense! When did I suddenly become quiet about sharing my feelings about your actions!" Ezra voice broke into the quiet "Mr Jackson, ... Nathan I apologize I should have known you better than that." Nathan nodded clearly mollified by the sincere apology but suddenly Vin was talking and no one on the team had ever seen him so angry "Is that it Ezra. You should have known him better. What about knowing me better! I would at least expect you'd ask if'n it was true! You say you consider me a brother. What kind of a way is that to treat me then! Or maybe..." Suddenly his tirade was cut short by JD shouting him down "NO!" Vin looked at him startled. JD looked at all of them and he was clearly filled with sorrow. "Vin it was no more true for me than the rest of you. I was just angry and upset and it had nowhere to go because I was scared to direct it at Dom so I pushed it all on Ezra. I wanted to hurt him and I did." He focused suddenly on Vin "You want to hurt him so you take all you know of him and twist things and it's just so easy and you feel a little bit of satisfaction that you got him. But then, then you have to live the rest of your life knowing that he will always be just that little bit wary of you. That little bit afraid that you, the person who holds his life in your hand, the person who he should trust above all can't be completely trusted. It's not worth it Vin, not for anything, certainly not for that tiny bit of satisfaction you get when you're angry and can't think straight" There was a long pause and then Buck's voice echoing with sincerity said "Amen!" 

Vin felt as though he had been slapped. Suddenly all his anger had faded like a balloon that had been popped and all he felt was ashamed of himself. He finally really looked at Ezra and saw the tension and misery in his body language and the completely calm blank expression and felt himself fill with gratitude that JD had stopped him before things went too far. He didn't even know definitively what he had planned to say to Ezra but he could feel the vestiges of the desire he had to 'get back' at Ezra and he knew only too well how much and how easily he would have been able to hurt him. He could not think how to apologize to Ezra, he wasn't good with words at the best of times. Abruptly he gave up on trying to put together a speech and walked over to Ezra and pulled him up into a hug. He felt Ezra's startlement and initial resistance and then suddenly he relaxed and returned Vin's hug with a ferocity that made Vin suppress a wince. It felt like forever before Ezra finally released his hold and stepped back. Vin was dismayed but not surprised to see Ezra's mask was down and his eyes were wet. Fortunately he was smiling and his voice was shaken but held a clear core of honest amusement. "Two hugs in one day, and from the most unlikely persons. I should feel fortunate. However I would appreciate it Mr Tanner if we agreed not to engage in such activities in the future." Vin smiled back "Word of a Tanner Ezra."

Dom watched the team leave and turned to Ezra to ask him for one last time with no-one there to see the question and answer but them. "You're sure you don't want the contract terminated or changed?" Ezra was adamant "Under no circumstances. Liability or not I want it Dominic." Dom wanted to be sure "You understand I'll feel obligated to make sure you never, ever, ever think about going to a meet without backup again. Not to mention there will be no leniency given for being quick enough to hangup on Chris. You broke your promise to me Ezra in spirit if not in fact. You've been playing a game where you never repeat a specific behavior, you will obey Chris' orders to wear a vest but not to stop approaching a perp, you won't ditch your escort but you'll go someplace completely unescorted, now you run off to a gun deal with no backup at all. We're done with that. No more. You don't change this contract now and I promise you'll never again do anything even remotely dangerous ever again because you'll be damn well sure that you never want to be punished this much again. The last time we did this it was days of punishment." Ezra's answer was succinct. "Even so." Dom let himself relax and found what he mostly felt was relief as well as a core of anger. "Well in that case I love you but I promise that this will make my little temper tantrum over Rico seem pleasant in comparison." Ezra laughed suddenly in what Dom recognized as honest amusement. "Well Chris will be intensely happy to hear that." Dom found himself smiling and he pulled Ezra to him for a kiss. He had almost lost him but well that would not happen again and in the end they had weathered the storm stronger than ever


	9. Epilogue: Closure

Ezra slid quietly into the room and turned and locked the door behind him. Chris felt his eyebrows rise in surprise. What was going on? Ezra turned to face him and Chris could see consternation "Ok Chris just what exactly is going on with you? You've been short tempered all week and frankly it is beginning to wear thin." Chris slumped back in his chair. Well he should have expected Ezra would pickup on his mood. "Let it go Ez." Ezra scowled "I will do no such thing Mr Larabee I have experienced your temper for unwarranted reasons far too often to 'let it go' as you suggest." Chris could not believe the unfairness of it "Name one thing, just one I've said to you that has been anything other that perfectly polite this whole week!" Ezra laughed "There has not been a single incident, however you have nearly reduced JD to tears and tried even Nathan's good humor." Suddenly he turned serious "Chris if there is something wrong, I will do anything in my power to help you know that."

Chris could not face that "It's not ... look are you Ok?" Ezra looked puzzled then flushed "Are you referring to my physical or emotional well being." Chris reddened "Emotional. I had Vin keep an eye on you he said Dom stopped ... that is he's not ... it's over right? A day or two ago." Ezra laughed "Yes Mr Larabee it is indeed over." Chris relaxed "So are you alright? I was so angry when Dom punished you for doing your job. I felt like he had no right but I didn't think confronting him about it would help in any way. He did seem to recognize that he was wrong eventually but I needed to work up the nerve to talk to you about it. Should I have confronted him about it?" Ezra looked thoughtful "Well it's not technically correct to say he had no right you know." Chris flashed to anger "I did some research myself. He has the right to punish you for disrespect, disobedience, and deliberate disregard for his known interests. I really don't think doing your job counts as any of those." Ezra's response was quick "From Dominic's perspective it was a complete betrayal since Rico was a close and trusted friend. Protecting Dom's friends would certainly count as a known interest." Chris had to pause at that "So why was Rico so angry with him?" Ezra smiled "As you are curious the biggest issue which Rico had was the parameters of Dominic's punishment not the mere fact of it. There was some discussion about changing the contract however I am not actually interested in such efforts in part because believe it or not I am not generally disrespectful with Dominic. There is more to it than that though."

Ezra leaned against the wall clearly willing to explain a bit "You have to realize that what I provide to Dominic that is unique is an unprecedented level of control. If he only took action when it was solely for my benefit no control would really be ceded to him. As such we agreed that since, as you well know, I am hardly overly obedient Dominic would generally refrain from orders, but that if he does give one which is disobeyed I will be punished for it. Similarly egregious disrespect in front of other parties is verboten. As for actions which are directly against his interests such things are extremely unlikely so I have no objections to agreeing to punishment for such. In return well, I belong to him. " He paused then and his glance at Chris was a bit bashful. "Dominic holds onto the people that belong to him with a ferocity I have rarely seen equaled. Perhaps I should not need that but given the somewhat unorthodox upbringing I had with my mother I do need it. I am willing, indeed usually delighted to trade my control to him in exchange. I wish you could approve since your opinion is important..." Chris broke in because he had to correct that assumption "No Ezra I don't disapprove. I guess I did not completely understand but while I can't comfortably stand back and see you hurt I am accepting of whatever keeps you safe and happy. I didn't see Dom's perspective at all and I'm still not happy with what he did when he was punishing you based on actions you were blackmailed into, but if you can accept his apology and forgive him so can I." Ezra grinned suddenly "Is this where we hug?" Chris' "God no!" was heartfelt and had them both laughing. Finally Chris threw him out of the office with a curt "Get back to work Standish" Ezra left with a smile and a bounce in his step and Chris relaxed. Things would be fine. 

"Thank you Madame secretary" Chris hung up the phone and sighed with satisfaction. The leads they had received both from Rico and tracking down the people who had eventually made threats against the judge had paid off and between JD and Ezra's computer investigations they had identified all the major players in the state department. Then at Dom's suggestion Chris had finally had a little talk with Fredrick who had gone absolutely ballistic at the idea of anyone daring to in his words "cause one of his toys emotional distress by forcing them to engage in something that would bring them into conflict with their owner." He had brought enough influence to bear to ensure that their suspects would be removed from their positions and thoroughly investigated. Between that and Travis' push to identify the ATF directors who had sucumbed to the pressure from the state department Chris could guarantee that no one would try such tricks with his team ever again.


End file.
